4^6 DUTCH HISTORY the rapacity of the latter was too open for their ar- tifices, and the natives were scarcely acquainted with them, when they were as desirous of being rid of these new guests as of the former. As early as the year I6u6, the king of Ternate attempted to league the princes of the Moluccas against the Dutch for their expulsion, but was baffled by the jealousy of his neighbours. In l6l3, the Dutch had the dexterity, in pursuance of their exclusive system, to inveigle the greater number of the na- tive princes of the Moluccas into treaties, confer- ring upon themselves the exclusive right of buy- ing cloves J Whether any actual imposition was practised in framing these treaties is not certain, but that the natives were wholly unaware of the ruinous consequences to their industry, comfort, and independence, which resulted from fulfil- ling them, cannot admit of a doubt. They had been long accustomed to a free traffic with all the commercial nations of Asia, and the unna- tural restraints to which, under the mask of j^ro- tection and Jriendshipy they were subjected, could not but be disagreeable to them. The infringe- ment of the treaties was the obvious interest of the prince and his subjects. The Dutch insisted upon their fulfilment, and resenting every infraction of those iniquitous compacts, made them the pretext for all the wars, persecutions, and invasions, which desolated the country, with little interruption, down to the year 1681, embracing a period of seventy years..
